Made by morel

Q&A: Mark Slutsky, Curator of Sad YouTube

Photograph courtesy of Mark Slutsky

Montreal-based writer/filmmaker Mark Slutsky might be the only person who reads the YouTube comments on a regular basis. As the curator of Sad YouTube, a feed of surprisingly moving stories culled from the video site's chatter, he estimates that he has spent hundreds of hours researching since starting the project two years ago.

"The more I looked, the more I found," Mark writes in a Buzzfeed article. "And I discovered that, secretly, the YouTube comment box had become the strangest and most wonderful place on the internet. A place that was fascinating, endlessly moving, and heartbreakingly human."

We are firm believers that great curation is one of the most powerful tools that storytellers have today. Jon Rafman's 9Eyes, a brilliant selection of found moments from Google street view, exemplifies this. And while the YouTube comment box might not be known as a destination for quality writing, we love that Mark recognized that in every haystack there must be a few needles and that he is now dedicated to capturing some of those moments before new comments push them into oblivion.

morel: Why "sad" YouTube? Why not odd, happy or mad?

Mark: The site is called Sad YouTube, but the word I prefer to use in describing the comments I choose is saudade. It's a Portuguese word that doesn't exactly translate to English, but which means an ineffable nostalgia for something forever lost. That is the feeling I look for when I read YouTube comments. Sometimes they shade happy, sometimes they shade sad, but there is always that feeling of saudade.

m: What is your earliest YouTube memory?

M: I can't remember my first encounter with YouTube, but I did recently dig up the first comment I thought was worth memorializing, on my personal blog. I had totally forgotten about it; it's a really sweet memory. You can read it here.

m: In general, do you leave comments? Or just read them?

M: I almost never leave comments, especially on YouTube. I prefer to dig 'em up.

m: What are you inspired by at the moment?

M: Right now I'm inspired by the wonderful non-fiction writing of John Jeremiah Sullivan, here's a couple of his pieces —Piece #1 and Piece #2 — and the music of Todd Terje and the films of Chris Marker.

“It was our crew song for the Desert One Hostage Rescue Mission Apr 80. Only some of us made it home. Sitting around the campfire we’d listen to it and others and just look at the stars and see the same ones we saw at home. 24hrs later some of us were winging home while others were in God’s arms.”- jim mcclain, “Christopher Cross - Ride Like The Wind”